2003-12-15 - 3:25 p.m. A New England Christmas Tradition A New England Christmas Tradition Well, not really, but every year we go out to lunch for a Christmas festivle. By that I mean a Christmas lunch that runs late. Normally it goes from about 12:00 to 2:00 But this year�oh dog� 11:30 to 3:00. Lets all take a moment of silence to thank the Italian for their dynamic eating style. Okay, so we open with leaving extra early to walk across town to the South End where we enter this restaurant across from Whiskey Park and the Park Plaza Hotel. It�s called Maggorili Italian Eatery, or something so similar to that it�s shocking. We enter and I find me Boss, who left earlier than I did there having what I can best describe as a light beer. He is with a co-worker, the one I replaced, who is sipping a glass of red wine. I have nothing to say to my replacement, mostly because we never really have met. Nonetheless, this party gets bigger every year cause all those who retire come out to eat with us, until, I suppose, they die. Anyway, thanks to medical science and a good retirement program, there are lots of people at this lunch. About 40 I would say. When we sit, I make a fatal flaw of accidentally sitting down before all seats were taken. My Boss and my Big boss sit down to my left and right. Despite my affection for both, they aren�t exactly the rag-tag scallywags I am accustomed to hanging around with. I feel the Big Boss senses this, and I stand to remove my jacket we quickly exchange places. It was like we in each other�s head. We all sit down and they get our drinks. Now my boss is already drinking a beer, so I opt for the Sam Adams Winter Lager. I figure that this was the �classy� and �bang for buck� option that other would all be jealous of. At nearly 5.5% the Winter Lager is bitterly refreshing with a hefty woody aftertaste. Delicious. So then they give out the bread and the oil. Now who doesn�t like bread an oil. Not me, after allowing a few of the upper management to nab the prime time bread, I take my picking of the scraps leftover before my equals have a chance to scrum for it. This is a �everyman for themselves� atmosphere. Also, I am not the only one drinking during the event. Two others on my team and several of the upper crust are also drinking. Wine and Beer mixed. No one went for the Tequila. Just as a note: My nearest friend orders the �house Chianti� (Key-aunt-tay) Then the salads come. The deal with this place is that you can order the family mean which is all you can eat almost everything. We start with Fried Mozzarella, Caesar Salad, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, and Antipasto. I liked the salad the best, but the Dip and the Antipasto got rave reviews. The Mozzarella, not to my liking, was enjoyed by a few, but not many partook. I had two helpings of the Caser which was my favorite. Then the pasta dishes came. Now I am not too sure what was up with these dishes, but people seemed to go crazy for them. There were two chickens, one with mushrooms, and one with broccoli, then a tuna one. Let me describe them. It was like shells, some other vegetable things, and the meat mixed in a bowl in some sort of clear/light sauce. People seemed to love them. I left them to the side. Finally the main course was served. Chicken Parmesan, which I ate, a Salmon dish, which I also ate, a Swordfish plate, which I also ate, and finally a mussel dish, which I did not eat. I had two chickens, one swordfish, and one salmon. I found the salmon to be the �biggest surprise� which the swordfish was �the best� as it was not too fishy, but still maintained a nice consistency. The chicken was also very good in a very nice red wine sauce with a �fluffy� cheese. I ate every bit. It was par excellent. I don�t really know what that means, but I have a good guess. (the most excellent?) Anyway, Finally desert was served. Amen. That�s the prayer I should have said since my stomach didn�t have a chance. And so the two desserts were served: Tiramisu, and an Ice Cream Biscuit sundae (best described as a scoop of ice cream severed in a �fried breaded shell� with hot sauce and Whip Cream on top.) [And that Italian whip cream�not cool whip.] Now the served two of those plated (with 6 of those ice cream treats each) in front of me. So there I am with about 12 ice cream things sitting in front of me and about 20 people looking on. I was teased slightly since they believe the waiters to believe that I was hungry. I simply replied with�they guessed right. Anyway after an ice cream biscuit, and a tiramisu dinner was done. Somewhere in between the beginning and end of this feast I got a second beer. Anyway, we went to pay the bill, which was about 800 dollars or so, and my friend discovered that the �house Chianti� that he was given was in fact the most expensive wine on the list. This was, of course, 11.50 a glass. He had two glasses. He was pist. The waiter apologized and Charlie paid the money, but in the end was disgruntled. As we were leaving the waiter said goodbye, and Charlie replied �you�re a fucking asshole.� Tempers were high, bellies were full, but best of all�working time was wasted. We couldn�t have asked for more� | |||||||||||
